Fate: Forsan Miseros Meliora Sequentur
by GradusAdParnassum
Summary: For him, who only knew about the sacrifice that he made to save others, and not of the sacrifice of others to make sure that he would not have to sacrifice anything any longer. They hoped and prayed, even if no one would answer, that the life of the one that they loved would be a happy one this time.
1. Chapter 1

**_The Fate series belongs to Type-Moon and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto_**

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Chapter 1: Childhood ( I )

He stared at the molten metal before an already hardened steel met the red malleable metal on the anvil, sparks of fire appeared with each hit as the metallic noises filled the air.

The movements were memorized to the point that it was something instinctual to the one who was holding that hammer whose metal was bigger than what the small being should be able to carry at his age. Yet the child was carrying that hammer that should be carried by one of his sizes with the two hands, and even then, any other kid would just drag the heavy instrument without being able to raise it without the help of others.

It was easy for anyone to find something wrong with the image of a five years old child hammering iron at such high temperatures with the skill that could only be learned with a lifetime of practice. Everything seemed wrong with that image.

A child could not hold something of that size and hit it with such strength. A child should not be so near such dangerous objects in a space filled with potentially harmful objects for him. A child of such age should not be left under no one's supervision.

It was outrageous! Where were their parents?!

It was something easy to answer, they were not on the side of the living anymore. Nor that the child had ever got to know them, he had only caught glimpses of their faces and expressions, happy with just see him, they were kind people.

_Clang. Clang. Clang._

And he continued to stare at the sparks born from the steel that met steel, his eyes no longer focused on the task before him but his body moved by its own with a skill born from an infinite number of the most skilled of the blacksmiths in the whole history but to a distant memory, like a whipping to himself he stared at the distant flames of a _hell,_ born from the clash of a vessel that contained the sins of humanity and the light of the wishes of mankind for victory. A distant fire that had consumed everything, to the point that what made him 'himself' was burned along with whatever family he may have.

But he did not know that, he only knew that what he was doing was reminding himself of a distant memory that he had forgotten and he wanted to remember _it_, even if that memory was painful to the point that even him— who was the one who was trying to remember those unpleasant memories— wanted that hell to end. But he moved forward on the memory.

A child going through a land of fire and ignoring the cries for help of the people, the suffering around him, he moved forward until he could no longer stand... and there when the child had lost all hope of living, a man moved the rocks that had buried him under a tomb of scorched stone, brick and ashes. A man with the happiest smile that he had ever seen, a smile that he—

"Shirou-kun! Again in here?!"

It was not a question, it was an extremely loud statement from a furious woman with hair as red as the fiercest of the fires with an attitude to live up to it, the carefree woman that was the caretaker of him and the rest of the orphans that she and her husband had found on an abandoned island, the homeland of her ancestors.

Uzumaki Kushina was her name.

He ignored the image of an orange-haired tiger in the shape of a woman that superposed their elder— although he would never dare to call her revered elder... again, he had already discovered what happened when he implied that she was old.

"Kushina-sama."

She cringed at the honorific that she used alongside her name, probably hearing him talking like an 'old man,' like she said before, was the thing that bothered her, but he couldn't help it, he had seen other people of the same clan using that honorific to the one who was the head of their clan. And that was what she was, the Head of the Uzumaki Clan of the Leaf. A clan composed of a single adult woman and two children- one of a year old and the other with five years old-, a clan that was on the verge of extinction. He had heard something about putting the children in a Clan Reconstruction Act or something like that to repopulate the long-time allies of the Leaf, but how would it Reconstruct their clan? Wasn't a clan a family and not a construction? And what did it had to do with repopulating their clan? How were they going to do it? What was an Act?

Every time he mentioned these things to their caretaker— the woman who had adopted him after his parents had died and was okay with him not calling her mother, although he had once tried to say such things, sometimes calling her 'Aunty' or 'Grandma', she had not taken a liking for the last one, but considerating that their clan was a clan known for their vitality and longevity, to the point that an elder of eighty years would look like an adult in their late twenties—, his caretaker would laugh awkwardly and change the subject on an instant or blatantly ignore him by taking her attention to other thing or running away. She was uncomfortable with that, he understood at the seventh time that he had asked why she twitched at the very mention of the word.

"Shirou-kun..."

Her sweet voice along with a tilt of her head, a dangerous small smile on her face. He had seen that image somewhere but did not place where. A pretty girl of lustrous jet black hair with sapphire eyes that was always lecturing him and looking at him as if he were insane, the girl had not even reached his collar bone but he had felt threatened. Now, however, was a woman who he reached to the middle of her thigh with her hair moving dangerously with the sweetest of the smiles and an aura of a demon. The woman who he had heard to be known as the 'Red Hot-blooded Habanero' for her breathtaking beauty and immense savagery in the battlefield alike to the one of a beast.

"What did I told you about being so near to a forge?"

"To don't do it."

He remembered clearly, but he liked the forge, he felt a connection to it, a sort of empathy, as if he was a forge or something like that. He always found it weird that he felt such connection with the forges, instead of with the blacksmiths that used them. Was it because he felt more like a tool than a human?

He would never know, nor say such things as to it would call too much the attention about such things, so he tried to act like a child, although in these sorts of cases was when his true nature was peeking to the outside world.

"And what are you doing _now_?"

_Too close_.

"That smile is scary, Kushina-sama."

So close that she was practically inches of his face.

The red-headed woman grabbed his hand and started to walk away from the forge, it was obvious that she was bothered by what he had done for she had already said so many times to the point that she was no longer counting.

_763 times_.

But he was still counting.

"What were you trying to do this time?"

She said with a sigh as she ignored the looks of pity that the villagers were giving to the child. She was known to be a strict woman on duty and public when she was not with someone that she cared about.

"The fire."

Kushina gave him a side glance and looked at his calm expression. She had known the child for a few years now and he had always been _odd_, but she did not mind that, for he was a member of her family. Family sticks together. And for the Uzumaki, the family was one of the most important things that they had.

And even if the kid was odd, he was still a kid, with time he will change and hopefully, she would change for the better and not let the traumatic experience of the death of his parents— which he had told her that he remembered— and all the people that he knew in the village consume him in something like vengeance. Even if she hated the fact that she was putting himself at the face of the danger that was the heat of the forge and the sharp and contaminated items on that abandoned forge, that made him feel more relaxed. Maybe he would end up becoming a Blacksmith, there were quite a few famous works of Uzumaki Blacksmiths after all, and he had an innate talent for the art of the forgery of blades.

"You shouldn't think too much about it, looking at the past will not solve anything, it would only make the pain in your heart bigger, focus more on the today and the tomorrow, for those things are all that matters now."

"Someone cannot look at one's future without knowing one's path."

_Eck._

Again, with that old man type of attitude. From the moment that she had gotten to know him, he had always seemed like an old veteran that had lived through their whole life on the battlefield without actually knowing any joy in life. A child should not be speaking like that or have such an empty look. It was as if she were staring at one of the young ROOT agents of the old bastard known as Shimura Danzō.

An unnerving sight that her deceased husband had worked hard to erase without canceling the ROOT program completely. Something that she had always seen as stupid, that old _goat_ did not deserve any respect that had been given to him with how badly he treated _children_, children that were forced to kill their brothers and show no hesitance in obeying that order.

"Okay, okay, _Old_ brat. At least make sure to don't scare Naru-chan with the look of your eyes."

She did not mind him being near to her little Naru-chan, but as her little child was always constantly clinging to him whenever he was taking care her little yellow bean with cute birthmarks resembling whiskers and big brilliant blue eyes like sapphires, it was obvious that he was doing something wrong, for she was not able to hold her little Naru-chan without the newly born baby crying and when he did so, her little Naru-chan _giggled_. Kushina was a mature woman, she was not jealous, the brat had done something to her little bean to have more affection! She was stealing her little ball of joy!

She was not jealous! Kushina just did not feel comfortable with the idea that another kid had more motherly power than herself, a little boy just a few years older than her baby! He even stole her first word. Instead of saying 'Mama' or something similar, Naru-chan had said 'Shido (Shirou)'. Unacceptable! She was the mommy, why did the little boy steal the position of the first word... well, the second word had been 'Mama' and that was all that mattered, yes, that was all that mattered. HAHAHAHAHahahaha...

Why must life be so unfair?!

Kushina looked at the door of their house and stopped at a few inches from the sliding door. For a moment, almost instinctively, Kushina had almost said 'I am home, honey' and at the moment that that thought crossed her mind, her whole body shut down. Her eyes moving uncomfortably to different directions with the current situation, her lips thinned into a line.

_Almost a year_. And she still did not accept that _he_ was truly gone.

The Fourth Shadow of the Fire, the Yellow Flash, the Fastest Ninja.

But she knew him by another nickname, _her_ feminine-looking idiot.

She remembered everything about that night and still could not accept that he was truly gone, for her love for her Minato was just as strong as that. An unbreakable love that would never disappear no matter what obstacle would time wait for her, that was the kind of love that those of the Uzumaki clan had for their beloved ones.

The clan ruled more by their feelings than by their logic.

A strong thing love was, one of the strongest driving forces for the people, but it was also the thing that made the hurt the most when those who they loved disappeared. Especially when that love failed to save those they loved.

While in her hesitant condition of not being able to open the door due to her idiot not waiting for her in a pink plain apron, Shirou simply freed himself and opened the door, not understanding why she was so puzzled.

"Ohhh, mama! Shirou-nii!"

A cheerful voice was waiting for them right in front of them. She had probably been waiting for them since the moment that she went to retrieve Shirou.

It was as if the moment that he had gotten his eyes in the little ball of life that was struggling to walk forward, his whole being changed to a joyful one, even if his expression remained still, his aura could not be hidden. An aura of happiness and his eyes softened.

Kushina chuckled, trying to push away the jelou—... the _feelings_ that she had on the scene. And she allowed her lips to take the shape of a saddened smile filled with guilt. For the child was probably replacing the memory of the baby sister that had been taken away from him with her daughter like he sometimes forced himself to don't call her 'Mother' for the word brought a lot of painful memories.

Memories that she and Minato could have prevented if she had put more importance to discover the truthfulness of the rumors of a small village whose inhabitants had hair as red as blood.

She had been in denial at first, just to guard the feelings that she had on this matter. The same feeling of guilt that she had since she was a child for having not being able to do something, _anything_, to help her family from the attack that they had suffered. Just to keep the small tinge of hope away so that her heart would not be disappointed.

She had been disappointed with herself the moment that she arrived. For that moment she had been able to do something, but just to don't feel the despair, loneliness, and sadness that she had felt when she had heard the news that the defense that her clan had given, had finally been defeated after a whole month of siege.

She had arrived when the village had already lost almost all of its population and the ninjas that had eliminated innocent survivors of her clan— elders, pregnant women, children, babies— and some even seemed to take pleasure on it. The moment that she had seen the first innocent person, a baby no older than a few months old, with his head crushed on the ground, parts of it splattered on the ground.

She saw _red_. And she reminded everyone why she was also called the 'Red Demon Queen of the Battlefield.'

No survivors from the attackers, she took pleasure on a few of them that begged for their lives as she let her summons eat them alive.

She had thought also that there were no survivors on the victims side either until she made a further inspection of the scene revealed a small child, old enough to have consciousness of what was happening on his surroundings and interact with it, in front of his parents and a small baby, probably a recently born child, on his hands. Several kunais, needles, and shurikens on his body— so many of them to the point that he was very similar to what one would call a 'Living Pin Cushion'—, and only a single needle in the head of the child, the single needle that had taken the life of the baby.

A hollow look on his face as he stood up and starting muttering 'Everything is going to be okay, Illya' over and over again.

Some others tried to get close to the child to put him in a safe place. First with words, but seeing that he was not listening, one of the most impatient and insensible ones tried to move him physically, and when she was about to be vocal about the outrage that she was feeling at such approach—

—The kid defended himself.

Ten ANBU that had accompanied them had died in an instant, pinned to the ground by swords that came out of nothing. But the one who had approached him had suffered a different fate.

A fate of being eliminated as swords came out of his body. A body left unrecognizable by the number of swords that came out of his body, pain extremely obvious on his eyes, his mouth unable to scream. He probably had felt the pain as something that had extended for a _longer_ amount of time, but he had died at the thirty seconds.

Everyone remained quiet and still on that moment— except for a novice and ignorant recently ascended Jōnin, who tried to eliminate the child as a threat, but more importantly.

To avenge his friends.

It was a mistake that almost all of them paid, except for her and a few more who were left unable to continue in their career as protectors of their village due to the act of an _idiot_ against a _child_.

If it hadn't happened what had happened, the hand of the Jōnin who had tried to attack the child that she would later take under her care would have been severed before the motion of his hand had ended. But _it _happened, an impossibility, something beyond her comprehension that she said to herself that it was one of the many _abilities _of the people of her clan.

_Swords. _A distant hill of swords that had materialized on an instant, less than a second. Yet the effect that it had on the reality was something to be afraid of.

_Who_, in their right mind, would have said that a _child _that had just reached the age were a child no longer had difficulty walking? A small and innocent-looking kid— if one did not look at his eyes— would _destroy_ a squad full of a few of the most trained ninja of her village, the elite of the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

But he did, and the kid had almost taken her life if it wasn't for the sharp senses born after years of practice that allowed her to cover the ones around her in a barrier with her chains. All of the swords clashed in a cacophony of deafening noises that made her cover her keen ears that could hear miles away if she wanted. They had been protected until a crimson spear pierced through the barrier like butter cut by a hot-red knife.

The barrier fell. Bodies fell by the barrage of projectiles.

They went to cover from the endless attack that lasted for over a few minutes until the energy of the child ran out and a sound of his little body had fallen to the ground.

And even on unconsciousness, he never let any dirt fall to the little girl around but the sharp weapons that covered his body dug even deeper his flesh.

The child surrounded by _hell itself _and who protected a little girl, despite already having failed to protect the child. An empty and guilty look on his eyes as tears streamed down his eyes.

She had immediately tried to keep him alive long enough so that an expert would save the child, or so a normal person would have done, for the apprentice of the Three Legendary Ninja was anything but normal, especially on of the Slug Ninja who was known to reject anyone that dared to look for her in an attempt to train under her teachings. Her healing ninja arts were of the highest-ranked one on the village in the actuality despite having Chakra reserves as larger than even a Shadow, to the point that some even considered a Tailed Beast due to her Chakra alone. And so she healed the child on spot after expanding the healing effect to the surrounding area, in an attempt to heal whoever was still alive.

But it did not take long to discover that Shirou was the only one that remained alive in that _hell_.

She took it with Minato and told him that Shirou was their new child, he tried to reason with her, saying that they weren't ready. She was ready, she had born ready. And no amount of words could make her back away from her decision, no amount of words could make an Uzumaki change their minds.

He was family, it was all the reason that she needed to adopt the child.

"Kushina-sama, I have already made dinner... do you want to eat outside or is there anything that you want to do?"

_Cheeky brat_.

She smirked at the child as her hand fell on his head, she started patting the boy's head. Kushina felt not for the first time that her dear daughter was more excited to eat the food of a _child_ a few years older than her than she was of eating her food.

Even if the food of the child was more delicious than— No! Her food was still the best, she had been the one to teach him, she would not allow herself to admit that her food was inferior to his!

The sounds of joy that came out of her mouth as she ate one of the best meals that she ever had, without counting Teuchi.

Kushina chuckled as the night continued and the only male in the house tried to feed her daughter with some apple puree while she tried to bring the bowl of ramen near her to eat it.

_Ahhh~ Truly my child_.

They all enjoyed the moment as two pairs of eyes looked at the scene fondly, both from different worlds but with a similar strong love for this kid despite him not knowing of their existence. M_aybe in this world, he would get something that he lacked in the former_.

True happiness and peace.

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**_I have... decided to take place in the Writing Contest of Alex-kellar. I decided to take the first route with him being adopted._**

**_I will assume that the first arc will end when he becomes a Genin._**

**_Wonder... should I include __characters from the Nasuverse?_**

**_Aside from the ones that caused this, of course._**

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**_Please leave your reviews... thank you for reading_**

**_I will accept any help that anyone gives me :)_**

**_Until next time~_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_The Fate series belongs to Type-Moon and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._**

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_**Message (Done on 11-12-2019): Understood, I will not include any other character of the Nasuverse... though, I was wondering, should I include other concepts of the Nasuverse, like Phantasmal Beasts or Beasts (Apart from the Tailed Beasts, of course)?**_

_**I had always wanted to see some mythological beings created naturally through the environment's Chakra that would be a menace to the Elemental Nations and with the anime of Fate/GO Absolute Demonic Front going, I found it cool the infinite armies of Phantasmal Beasts trying to kill everyone... I mean, there had been some giant animals, the creatures that can be summoned, that one filler with the Nekomata, and the other... 'filler' about the children of Kaguya visiting the Land of Toads through a 'secret passageway'... It could be considered a form of teleportation to the Reverse Side or that that place is actually in the physical world and it's only way too hidden, but**__** I would have liked it to be in the same threat level that the people of the Age of Gods had when fighting against Phantasmal Beasts. Like, Ninjas of the Lead fighting against Fire Dragons or Spriggans... things like that.**_

**_Does it sound good?_**

**_Message 2: I should... let's get into the story_**

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Chapter 2: Childhood ( II )

"Naruko, remember to don't leave your vegetables in the plate."

He always reminded her every two to three minutes about it, for the blonde child had a clear dislike for anything of the green color. And like almost any child of her age, she felt disgusted by the mere sight of the vegetables on her plate, once again she was trying to escape this important part of her nutrition by showing her cutest puppy glassy eyes as fake tears went down her face.

"B-but—"

"No 'buts', you are a growing girl, you need to eat as many nutrients and vitamins as possible if you want to be a healthy child."

She pouted furiously.

"Shirou! Be nice with Naru—"

"And you, Kushina-sama, I expected more of you, how could an adult _dare_ to give such an unhealthy dinner last night, the ramen— even one as well made as the one of Teuchi is— does not provide the essential nutrients and vitamins for Naruko..."

Shirou continued his scolding as the older woman just stayed there, fidgeting at every single word of scolding that came out of his mouth.

It was not that Kushina was a bad mother, it was just that she was spoiling of her child in many ways, one of those ways was her food. There was nothing that Kushina would not buy to feed little Naruko, no, there was nothing that she would not buy to please little Naruko.

Why was it like that? Shirou did not know, he only guessed that it had something to do with the fact that she was the sole adult in the house and that Naruko was the only one that truly acted like a child, especially since she was the child of her deceased husband.

All his thoughts stopped the moment that he heard the soft sound of a child's sniffling, _Naruko_'s sniffling.

_Don't please, not with those eyes_.

Wide and glassy cerulean eyes, eyes like the sky staring at him without any kind of guilt, however, Kushina ignored that to favor the anger that she was feeling at him for having made her little ball of energy cry.

"Shirou! Look at what you did-ttebane!"

She was gritting her teeth as she started to pull both of his cheeks. Using that moment of distraction, Naruko managed to eat the whole bowl in a matter of seconds, it was when Kushina had finished her assault that he finally could see the swollen belly of the girl that he saw as a sort of little sister before he heard the burp that came out of her mouth.

He sighed putting his hand on his temple. Kushina was easily manipulated by the sole powerful weapon of the child with cerulean eyes like a cloudless sky, her puppy eyes. However! He was not so weak-willed to surrender his correct position.

"No is still no, Naruko."

He calmly said as he added more vegetables and meat to her plate. While the young child was small, she was a big eater, easily managing to devour at least a few plates before she was full. She whined as she tried to throw away the food.

"Naruko, go ahead and eat your greenies or I am going to felt into the obligation of keeping mister Fluffy under arrest."

She looked horrified at the words of her elder brother by everything but blood, holding the small fox plushie thigtly against her chest, fake glassy eyes and puffed cheeks. An image that made the heart of the eldest person in the room melt at its sight, while the other child in the room only looked at it with a tense face as he forced himself to don't allow her to have whatever she wanted just because of a pair of pretty eyes... thing that even he had failed.

"_Sigh_... Okay Naruko, you can leave the vegetables... but this is the last time!"

"Yay!"

_Heh, as if, like I hadn't already said that a hundred times this year._

Shirou moved his head from side to side in shame for himself, before a pair of hands found its way towards his cheeks.

"Shi~Rou~Chan~, you made Naru-chan cry-ttebane!"

"Kushina-san, cheeks are not meant to be pulled."

Were the words that were able to be understood from the spluttering that came out of his mouth as he stared right at her eyes as he tried to hide the slight pain that he was feeling in this moment due to the stretching of his cheeks. A dangerous aura surrounded the body of the woman that was responsible for him while her hair took the shape of what it seemed to be nine 'tails' of her crimson silky hair that reached to her waist. It didn't hurt, she made sure of it, it was only bothering him.

"Hoh, to think that Kushina-san would become an abuser of kids, such shameful thing, I wonder what would have Sensei said about this..."

Kushina moved her head so fast, that he could almost hear a crack as her eyes looked more like the ones of a beast about to rampage then that of a normal human, and the dangerous aura that was surrounding her increased by ten-fold.

"What was that, Kakashi-kun~?"

The clenching of her teeth so sharp that the grinding was beginning to be painful to hear for someone so close to her as him. The man in question only held both hands in surrender as he closed his eyes in a friendly way.

"Kaka-nii!"

The excited voice of the little girl called their attention, and Shirou watched her as she clumsily ran forward towards the older man.

He was Hatake Kakashi, a student of the father of Naruko. He had messy and spiky grey hair that seemed to orient itself to the left-side, his dark-grey eye glancing lazily at them and despite his easygoing posture, Shirou could tell that he was ready to get in action the moment that he felt that something was off. All in all... he looked unreliable despite the many praises that Kushina had given to him.

Maybe becoming a high-ranked member in the military ranks of the Village has gotten over his head. Or it had to something to do with the usual glances filled with guilt that he sometimes has to the older woman and the child when he thought that nobody was looking at him.

Kakashi bent to his knees to catch the little girl with his open arms and Shirou got off her way and just when she was at a few meters away from the teenager—

The flat noise of something crashing with the ground. The sound of the face of the most little one of the house, falling straight face to the ground after tripping with one of her toys.

Everything froze, and Shirou could swear that he heard the older boy saying several words that were not on his vocabulary but identified as words that Kushina would never like.

They heard snifflings as the air got hotter and hotter while Kushina instantly appeared in front of Naruko with a whole bag three times her height filled with the medical instruments that one would see in a hospital and even more than one would require for this situation.

"Bandages!" She cried out desperately and both males couldn't help but wince at the tone, knowing completely well that they will have to hear a rather loudly woman complaining to them to let her leave the house to go to the hospital for the fiftieth time this day, the third day of the week. _And the day had gone without too many problems this day_. They both couldn't help but comment on their minds as they both sighed, already surrendering to the idea that the easily irritable woman would 'convince' them to get out of her way just to make sure that he little girl wouldn't have suffered some brain damage... possibly by taking her to the hospital after this.

"Are you okay, Naru-chan?! Are you hurt?! Where does it hurt?!..." And so the woman of the house kept bombarding questions to her daughter as she started to tie her in so many bandages that the small child now looked like a ball of bandages.

"Ano, Kushina-sama~ I think that Naru-chan is starting to suffocate."

Kakashi pointed out with his finger to the human popsicle of bandages that desperately tried to take them off. Kushina's scream was like the roar of a beast as she ripped open in one movement the ball of bandages that covered the whole head of the child that was finally able to breathe.

"Naru-chan, does it still hurt?"

The mother asked once again, however this time her words were a softer concern as she struggled to think of what to use after the child informed her mother of her injuries. The little girl in question just pursed her lips before smiling at her... if one would call _that_ a smile, it was more like she was showing Kushina her teeth while murmuring with a somewhat stuttering voice.

"I-I'm 'kay, mama..."

She moved robotically towards the kitchen again so nobody would see the forming tears on her eyes, thing for what Kushina was going to later burn that _thrash_. It was useless in that place after all, and Naruko has been saying that she had become bored of it... yes, it will be a good thing to increase the flames of... something, _anything_. Maybe she should even burn the whole place that made that toy... hmmmm, tempting.

Shirou had already appeared in front of her baby girl and started patting her a few times before she pouted furiously at him, momentarily forgetting about the pain of her small injury before he started to touch her cheeks causing the small ball of happiness to wince as small tears started to appear.

"Pain, pain, go... Away!" He made the motion of grabbing something on his small hand curled into a fist, before making a throwing movement and releasing the 'something' that was inside of his hands in the direction to Kakashi.

_Ah... when did this camera appeared_?

Kushina dismissed the question, her body had probably just moved on her own in response to the cute and tender movements that Shirou was doing to the little ball of energy. She checked the screen.

_Yes, it is recording._

Perfect! Whatever happened here, her gut was telling her that she would cherish it for life!

A moment passed, them two. Kakashi just stared blankly past his... _ehem_, 'book' at the oldest child of the house who had 'thrown' the pain of Naruko to Kakashi. To say the adults weren't amused by the rising coloration of red in the face of the child would be a lie, to see the stoic child oddly mature for his age do something as _childish_ as _that_ and looking at his flustered expression... they would have openly laughed in any normal occasion for such a silly thing, but considering who did it, all that they could think was.

_Cute_.

To think that Shirou could have such a side... then again, he always had a soft spot on Naruko, but always tried to hide it by being strict with her. Thing that failed after she showed her most powerful weapon, stealer of hearts and crusher of dignities, the 'puppy eyes'.

Such was the power of those azure eyes like the sky, a power so great that not even the strongest of the warriors could pose a threat against it. Not even the ninja known through the elemental nations known as the 'Shinobi God' due to his mastery over all the techniques known by all shinobi could refuse the whims of the youngest of the Uzumaki.

He was even trembling! God, was his lip quivering the thing that she was seeing?!

Breathing heavily, she started to see many things in her excitement, things like her stoic child saying cute things at Kakashi for not following his idea. Her expression was one that set on a state of unease to any normal man and woman, it was the look of a— in the same terms that Kakashi used once he saw her filling the memory of her first camera with the same situation of an infant Naruko dressed in an onesie of a toad while the infant in question was sleeping— perverted parent.

Kakashi looked at Shirou with a deadpan expression that made the blush in the face of the child deepen. The few seconds became ten seconds and those ten seconds were stretched to thirty, Shirou at this point was completely red as his hair with eyes completely shot by force as his whole body trembled. The tired young man let a sigh escape from his mouth before he said with an exaggerated sarcastic voice with a hand above his heart and the other hand's back pressed against his forehead.

"Oh nooooooo, this pain is unbearable." He dropped to the ground. "Help me, great Naruko-sama... I will die should you not do so... blergh"

He spread his body as much as he could as the small kid with glassy eyes and a worried expression got closer and closer to him with her hurried steps, she started to softly make the very same motions that Shirou had done for a few minutes but couldn't help but to start getting more worried when Kakashi stopped making any noise and movement, an apparent death for any normal person, but for Kushina who was a trained assassin of the shadows with a great deal of experience, she could see a slight movement in the part of his chest, showing that he was still breathing, though if one did the normal process that Naruko was doing right now to check his vitals, something that Shirou had taught her a few months ago and she had acquired the knowledge in a few minutes.

"Mommy! What is wrong with Kaka-nii?"

_Ahhh... no, Naru-chan, if you make such face it will be difficult for me to go along the joke..._

"Y-you see, _gulp_ Naru-chan, Kaka-nii... is dead."

_Damm it! My iron will has betrayed me!_

A minor mistake, Kushina had tried to go along the current but due to the face of earnest concern that Naruko was displaying for Kakashi and in a desire to continue the joke but not managing to do so, the cold mentality that she usually used when she was working to deliver the 'news' to the families- which happened a few times in her entire career and because of it she had managed to say the last thing with a pretty emotionless voice that scared her little sunshine- came to float at the worst time possible.

"Ka-Kaka-nii... dead? _Sniff"_

The last hit, she felt as if the claws of that demon were once again in her chest tearing her chest apart. Her body trembled and her resolved quaked under the sniffles of a little girl as if they were made of the thinnest of papers. She was left frozen in that place without being able to do anything, with a trembling, Kakashi opened his eye as he fake coughed and spoke his 'last words' to the child who was shaking his body with the little strength she had.

"N-Naruko-chan, before I go... I want to give you something... my favorite book, Icha-Icha-"

"**AS IF I WOULD LET YOU**!"

With the thunderous roar of a monster that shook the entire village, she dropped with all her might her foot against the head of the student of her husband's student. Such was the power of the enraged woman that cracks appeared by the mere shockwaves of the hit given by her drop kick against the log that he exchanged himself with to save his perverted life that was not going to survive for long.

"**COME HERE, YOU COWARD!**" Her roars echoed through the sea of trees that was the large area around the Village of the Leaf. "**I WILL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER OFFER SUCH THING TO MY CUTE NARU-CHAN!**" And so she went in the direction that he was running away from her, and in her wake left a path of destruction.

... A normal weekend in the leaf, some may say.

* * *

To say Mikoto found her best friend's actions funny and adorable at the same time was the same as saying that the floor was made of the floor. Her dear Kushi-chan had always been this adorable, no, actually she had become more adorable as age went by; as if her adorableness was wine, and to say that Naruko-chan would probably have the same or even more adorableness was like saying that the sky was blue.

Undoubtedly.

But to think that Shirou also had an adorable side... was the Uzumaki clan's trait to be adorable?

"And you know, since then, I have tried to provoke that side to come out again and record it, it has been a hard job-dattebane. But it's not something that the amazing Kushina couldn't do!"

Her long-time friend exclaimed with a smug smile as she showed more pictures of Shirou- AH! Was that him smiling?!

"I know! I didn't think that he would have such a cute smile, ahhhhh, such blessing was to be able to capture that moment."

And so... she pulled out an album with the headline marked as 'Cute Shirou-chan — Volume 1'... that gave her hope, of more volumes with pictures of cute little Shirou.

"Hum hum hum." She made those strange noises while moving her shoulders up and down, she always did that when she had won on something. "So this beats it, my Shirou is cuter." She said with crossed arms.

This time, Mikoto couldn't contain herself and laughed out loud, not because the statement was false— Although her eldest was still the cutest of them both—, but because of how smugly she was acting for such a childish competition when the winner was already decided from the start.

'Sorry, Shirou, but my Itachi is cuter and your puppy eyes nor your adorable maturity will change that.'

Her smile was still present when a thought entered her mind.

"Now that I think about it... ("Don't change the topic, Miko-chi!") How has... _that_ being progressing?"

Her fake angry expression banished in an instant, replaced by a hurt and sad expression. So still not managing to get inside his heart.

At first sight, Shirou was a normal child, an oddly mature one, but a child nonetheless... but as one spent more and more time with him, one managed to catch some, wrong things with him, he hid it pretty well, but for people like them, it was a clear as the water on the lake in front of them.

"The clan... it has been growing restless for the treatment that is given to them... I fear that horrible things will—"

The warmth of her friend, a familiar comfort on her stressed body.

"You know I will not let anything happen to you nor your family."

"That is not what I fear... I fear the actions that the clan will take from now on and how they will affect the younger generations... the generation of my children."

Their daughters played on the shore of the lake, giggling, carefree of the problems of the outside world in the little bubble they had created for them... they will fight with teeth and nails to make sure that their children would have a good childhood, the happiest one... one that they would remind their whole lives and look back as the good times.

"Speaking of which... Shirou-chan, I heard from his mouth that you were going to put him already on the academy... just when Itachi is going to enter... I wonder." The drops of sweat falling from the face of her friend and her funny expression said it all, but Mikoto still wanted to see more. "Who could have been~?"

She smiled at the excuses that her friend was making, she already knew why she did it but... hearing her making those badly crafted excuses... it sure was funny, wasn't it?

* * *

**I apologize for having taken so long to upload this story, I will make sure that the next one comes to the closest possible date**

**Also one thing... should I make Itachi a girl... it's... just that I saw some fan art and it would not leave my mind those images...**

**_Please leave your reviews... thank you for reading_**

**_I will accept any help that anyone gives me :)_**

**_Until next time~_**


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